Feds award $34 million to Ohio State, Nationwide Children's Hospital

Thursday

May 29, 2008 at 12:01 AMMay 30, 2008 at 10:30 AM

An unprecedented chunk of federal money should bring more rapid research, improved health care and possibly even jobs to central Ohio, said the leader of a new research consortium that Ohio State University and Nationwide Children’s Hospital will lead.

The National Institutes of Health announced this morning that it is providing $34 million for the development of the Ohio State University Center for Clinical and Translational Science.

In all, 14 institutions in 11 states were awarded $533 million over the next five years to help researchers move their discoveries from laboratories and databases into practical changes that will affect how doctors and other health care providers care for patients.

The 14 new centers join 24 others, including one based at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

The grant is the largest Ohio State’s ever had for biomedical research, said Dr. Rebecca Jackson, an internal medicine professor, endocrinologist and associate dean for clinical research. Jackson will lead the new center.

And it’s not just for people who wear white coats.

The center will seek input from researchers and experts at 16 colleges at Ohio State “from areas as far-reaching as food agriculture and environmental science to education, social work and arts and sciences,” Jackson said.

And community members will be part of the effort, too, sitting in on planning efforts and giving input as to what research should be given priority, she said.

The NIH effort also allows experts from around the country to more effectively work together, Jackson said.

Dr. Pamela Davis, dean of Case Western Reserve’s medical school and leader of the collaborative in Cleveland, congratulated Ohio State on joining the group and said she looks forward to more projects that incorporate talents from both universities.

“We would have a natural affinity with Ohio State,” she said this morning.

In Cleveland, the collaborative has begun to break down walls between institutions, save resources and improve the quality of research, Davis said.